A statement entitled “The Martyrdom of Shaykh Ismael Haniyeh,” encouraging attacks on Israel and the U.S.:
“[Israel and the U.S.] are but two faces of the same coin, therefore it is necessary for us to target America and Israel in the whole world, just as American and Israel are waging a global war against us, the people of Islam.”“Al-Qaeda In The Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) Eulogizes Hamas Political Leader Haniyeh, Calls For Global Attacks On Israel, U.S.,” Middle East Media Research Institute, August 1, 2024, https://www.memri.org/jttm/al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-aqis-eulogizes-hamas-political-leader-haniyeh-calls-global-attacks.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, Co-founder and senior member of Hamas
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In an interview with PBS Frontline:
“Hamas is going to destroy Israel? [laughs] Because we have a nuclear weapon and F-16 jets and Apache helicopters and because, all the time, we are killing Israelis this is policy that is not acceptable. We are [using] primitive weapons to defend ourselves, to push the Israelis outside our land. So I think the question should be answered by the Israelis: Who is going to destroy the other? The people who occupied our area in 1948, who reoccupied our area in 1956, the people who reoccupied our land and Arab land in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt in 1967, who went to Lebanon and killed thousands of people in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Who is going to destroy whom?” Frontline, “Extended Interviews Mahmoud Zahar,” PBS, May 9, 2006, https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/palestine503/interviews_zahar.html.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, Co-founder and senior member of Hamas
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<p><em>In an interview with PBS Frontline:</em></p>
<p>“Hamas is going to destroy Israel? <em>[laughs]</em> Because we have a nuclear weapon and F-16 jets and Apache helicopters and because, all the time, we are killing Israelis this is policy that is not acceptable. We are [using] primitive weapons to defend ourselves, to push the Israelis outside our land. So I think the question should be answered by the Israelis: Who is going to destroy the other? The people who occupied our area in 1948, who reoccupied our area in 1956, the people who reoccupied our land and Arab land in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt in 1967, who went to Lebanon and killed thousands of people in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Who is going to destroy whom?”<span class="footnote"> Frontline, “Extended Interviews Mahmoud Zahar,” PBS, May 9, 2006, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/palestine503/interviews_zahar.html">https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/palestine503/interviews_zahar.html</a>.</span></p>
Televised statement after an Israeli strike on Houthi targets in Hodeidah’s port in response to a July 19 Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv:
“We will respond to this blatant Israeli aggression and will not hesitate to strike the enemy’s vital targets. We have prepared, with the help of God Almighty, for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people is lifted.” Kareem Fahim, Alon Rom, Steve Hendrix, and Mohamad El Chamaa, “Israel strikes Yemen port after Houthis claim drone attack in Tel Aviv,” Washington Post, July 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/20/israel-yemen-hodeida-drone-tel-aviv/.
“We, in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), commend the exceptional military operation carried out by the Yemeni armed forces and the brothers Ansar Allah [movement], which targeted the heart of Tel Aviv, the center of the Zionist entity using the combat drone (Yafa). This heroic operation marks the beginning of a phase in targeting the depth of the fascist Zionist entity and its internal front in response to the ongoing brutal aggression on our defenseless Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of the Palestinian resistance.
“While we hail the positions of the brothers in Ansar Allah in Yemen, Hezbollah, the Jamaa Islamiya in Lebanon, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, we call upon all the forces and elements of our Ummah [Islamic nation] to unite and join the battle of honor and dignity, and strike the fascist occupying regime in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and in defense of the holy sites desecrated by the fascist settlers, most notably the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”“Press Statement,” Hamas - Online English Telegram Channel, July 19, 2024.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers.